Merryhill Envirotec is delighted to announce the appointment of Harriet Bennett to the Senior Management Team as Business Development Manager.
Continue readingMerryhill Envirotec Welcomes Harriet Bennett
Recent Staffing Changes
Merryhill has been very fortunate to have remained open and worked throughout the pandemic. This has been a credit to our teams for working under difficult circumstances and embracing the guidance from NHS and central government.
Aiming to build on the success of recent months, Merryhill has taken on 4 new employees across different functions.
Jonathan (Jon) Stratton joins as a new contracts manager, strengthening our operations team. Jon has a wealth of experience in the asbestos sector, having worked previously as a contracts manager, asbestos surveyor and analyst. More recently, Jon has worked as a project delivery manager, managing CDM projects across the south. Jon actually worked for Merryhill around 10 years ago and has now come full circle! We’re really pleased to welcome him back to Merryhill.
Trevor Gould has started as an additional asbestos supervisor. Trevor has worked in the industry for a number of years across the local area and spent time working on a self-employed basis. Trevor has hit the ground running and been working on some of our larger projects. Trevor brings a lot of experience to our supervisor teams and is settling in very well.
In addition to Trevor, we have also taken on a new asbestos operative. Harry Tompkins joins us from another provider having been working in the industry for just over 12 months. Harry is currently being mentored by our technicians, supervisors and his fellow operatives.
Lastly, earlier in March, Merryhill welcomed Leanne Dowland to our surveying team. Leanne is new to the industry and will be managing all of the administration associated with our surveying division. Leanne will also be responsible for ensuring our clients are quoted promptly and coordinating our surveyors’ diaries.
Working During a Pandemic
Merryhill has been very fortunate over the past year to have remained open and continued to work throughout the pandemic. It’s something we’re immensely proud of.
We have managed to adapt and overcome multiple issues, whilst keeping all of our people and stakeholders safe.
We’re very fortunate to have a very large office space. This has allowed us to maintain social distancing, way above the recommended 2m, without the need to install additional screens which can limit social interaction.
As our organisation has grown throughout the pandemic, we have made further alterations to our office layout to accommodate more people. Additional cleaning has become the norm, as has keeping doorways open using automatic closers in the event of a fire / emergency. We’ve set up 2 kitchen areas to limit people congregating and installed alcohol gel at all workstations and points of entry to our site. We check peoples’ temperature upon arrival and insist on visitors making an appointment and wearing a face covering.
Yes, it’s been a challenge. Yes, it involves a different way of thinking. Yes it involves buy-in from everyone.
But we’ve managed it.
Merryhill Secures Renewed 3-Year Asbestos License
Merryhill is very proud to announce that we have secured a new 3-year license from the HSE!
We found the new license renewal application process a challenge and much different to how we had made our applications in the past. Previously, some information was provided in advance, along with the old application form (ASB1). Once these had been submitted, our local HSE Inspector would visit our offices and conduct an interview with the senior management team.
Upon reflection, the new license renewal process has been a good opportunity to reflect and sometimes simplify our own processes.
David Ballan, Business Manager, explained: “when you are not given the opportunity to explain internal processes and methodologies face to face, it forces the mind to focus on ensuring everything is kept as simple as possible. When completing the license renewal application, our aim for each question and piece of evidence submitted was that it was simple for the inspector to understand and digest.
The end result? As we enter our new 3-year asbestos license period, we have made a number of changes to our internal processes. As a business, we are always looking to make improvements to our ways of working. In doing so, our aim is to conduct our work in a safer and more effective manner.
By simplifying things, our aim is to not only cause less confusion for those looking inward, but among our teams. Why have a paragraph, when a sentence will suffice. Could an image tell a better story?
These are all questions we’ll be asking ourselves over this license period as we prepare for our next renewal in 3 years’ time.
Bring it on.”
Top of the Charts for Health & Safety
As a licensed asbestos removal contractor, Merryhill are used to receiving unannounced health & safety audits from the HSE, ARCA and clients.
In recent months, Merryhill has been honoured to receive best H&S contractor on 2 separate sites by the same client!
Our client, a tier 1 main contractor regularly carries out audits on our work, especially on long term projects. One particular project where we were working alongside a demolition contractor and asbestos consultant, we achieved best contractor for health & safety for 3 months in a row. This is testament to our company-side focus on ensuring the safety of of people.
Working in a high-risk industry, Merryhill are very familiar with assessing and reducing risks wherever possible. By working closely with our site teams to ensure their understanding, we can demonstrate ongoing improvement.
Fire Marshal Training Completed
On a bright and windy Saturday morning in September, all Merryhill asbestos supervisors and members of the back-office team had fire marshal refresher training.
Training was delivered by Benfield Fire Safety following recommendation from an employee. The importance of fire safety is paramount, especially given a large proportion of our work takes place on construction sites.
The training was very well received by all who attended, with many commenting it was the best fire training they had received to-date. We would highly recommend Benfield Fire Safety for any fire-related training or risk assessment needs you may have.
Confined Space Training Completed
At Merryhill, we take the safety of our site teams very seriously.
Asbestos can often be found in awkward places such as undercrofts, attics, duct systems and basements. All of these scenarios have one thing in common, they are all often confined spaces.
The HSE defines a confined space as: “a place which is substantially enclosed (though not always entirely), and where serious injury can occur from hazardous substances or conditions within the space or nearby (e.g. lack of oxygen).”
Merryhill work with a number of clients that require our teams to have confined space training. The training provider, 3D’s Training UK Ltd were thorough and the trainer very interactive.
Merryhill have used a number of providers of the years, but this particular course struck a chord as it was delivered in such a positive and engaging way. The way training is delivered is often more important than the content. For a number of the people on the course it was a refresher so keeping people who already have some knowledge can be a challenge.
We’re pleased to say that all people who partook the course all passed with flying colours, well done to all those involved.
Merryhill Promote Supervisors
Merryhill are delighted to announce 2 significant promotions within the business.
Having proved himself working as a senior supervisor for a number of years, Dan Stephen has recently been promoted to a Project Manager.
Dan’s new role will see him take on additional responsibilities, including writing plans of work and manage larger projects as opposed to supervising them.
Dan will also work with the site teams to help them problem solve on site and also represent them much more vocally to our back-office support team. In addition he will be invited to meetings at management level to discuss site based issues in real time.
Alongside Dan’s promotion is Rob Moody. Having begun his career at Merryhill as an asbestos operative, Rob has progressed rapidly over the past 3 years, becoming a supervisor and taking on larger projects.
Rob has agreed to fill Dan’s boots as the new Senior Supervisor following his fantastic work at the Louise Margaret Hospital project. Rob will be expected to push on from that job and run the larger projects, solving problems on site and create safe working environments for our site teams to work.
Both Rob and Dan will be undergoing additional training over the coming months to help them with their new roles.
Following the promotions, Andrew Dart, Director said: “I am immensely proud of both these individuals and all our site teams. Rob and Dan’s promotions both showcase our commitment to staff development and improving individual skill sets. In a complex and often challenging industry, we rely on our site teams to provide the best possible service to clients. Only through continuous training and dedication can the most difficult asbestos removal projects be successfully carried out. Merryhill has a longstanding history of undertaking challenging works that others have turned away. Our people are the reason we are able to continue in this fashion.”
Trusting Your Asbestos Contractor
When dealing with asbestos, trust in your removal contractor or surveyor is of the upmost importance. When removal works have been completed, the expectation of the building occupier should be that the job has been done accurately, leaving no residual contamination.
When asked to carry out an additional asbestos survey on a military site earlier this year, Merryhill obliged, but the outcome for the customer was surprising. As part of a complete building refurbishment, the only remaining area that required a survey was a small boiler room and disused riser. When the on-site contractor asked if this would be possible, our surveying team visited the site and took the necessary samples to ensure no residual asbestos was going to remain once it was all sealed. Upon inspection, our surveyors noticed some board at the top of the riser, but was unable to reach it using a ladder. Upon asking if there was access from above, they were then escorted to a plant room within the roof space. The required samples were taken and subsequently tested positive as being AIB, containing Amosite fibres. What the surveyor found whilst in the plant room were a number of sections of pipe lagging debris which they also suspected to contain asbestos. Further samples were taken and they too tested positive.
The findings alarmed the building manager as removal works had already been carried out in the plant room and the necessary compliance testing passed. A further inspection of the plant room by the surveyor highlighted a number of other areas where asbestos had been left as debris. Admittedly, the plant room was an awkward environment in which to clean with lots of equipment and restricted ceiling heights, but working procedures should have taken this into account. When working in restricted areas, particular care should be taken to fully remove all residue, especially in corners, behind pipes and under equipment. Once removal works have been carried out, a visual inspection is then used to spot any remaining debris as act accordingly. It would appear in this case, a visual check had not been done thoroughly enough.
The building manager had lost all faith in the previous attempts to remove asbestos and began to question other services such as surveys which had been carried out by the same supplier. Merryhill were asked to re-survey other sections of the building as a result and discovered even more residual asbestos debris.
Delight and disappointment were felt simultaneously by the building owner who subsequently had to pay for additional removal works, on top of the extra surveys. Not only did this put the refurbishment works back, but also ate into contingency budgets.
The moral of this story highlights the trust put in both asbestos removal contractors and surveyors by facilities managers and building owners. Had the boiler room not been surveyed and questions asked of the suspect top panel, then potentially many trade’s people could have been exposed to the residual asbestos found in the plant room, ceiling voids and radiator elements.
Besides the potential for lawsuits, morally, the job of an asbestos surveyor is to provide trust. Trust in the findings so that those responsible for a building can take the appropriate action. If this trust is broken, or there are any doubts as to the validity of the survey then the consequences can be huge.
Merryhill Asbestos Testing & Consultancy is separate company to Merryhill Envirotec and is a fully UKAS accredited practice offering both asbestos management and refurbishment and demolition surveys.